The Great Housing Reset Continues

The U.S. housing market is on track to lose another $1.7 trillion in value this year, according to estimates by the real estate site Zillow.com -- 63 percent more than the $1 trillion lost in 2009. All told, the U.S. housing market has lost a staggering $9 trillion in value since its peak in 2006, according to Congressional Research Service estimates.

The chart above shows Zillow's calculations of lost housing values for a sample of the largest U.S. metros this past year. Of course, some metros are much bigger than others and had higher values to begin with; $36 billion is a much bigger hit for Phoenix than $103.7 billion is for New York. Though they are all trending downward, values vary widely across the United States.

The second chart shows the percentage of housing values lost over the past year, which provides a more realistic picture of the geographically uneven nature of the crisis. While the overall U.S. market lost 5 percent of its value, several markets - Miami, Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix, and Atlanta - posted losses of more than 10 percent. Baltimore, Tampa, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, and Philly's losses were worse than the national average as well. On the other hand, four markets - San Diego, Riverside, L.A., and Boston - saw their housing values increase on a percentage basis, while San Francisco, Dallas, D.C., and New York suffered only slight declines.

The great housing reset is far from over; the U.S. housing market will continue to adjust for years to come. Recall that the housing market took the better part of two decades to recover after the Great Depression. But the reset is geographically uneven, with values stabilizing and even recovering in some cities while they continue to slide in others.